The Destiny Manor
by ElectricBlueberries
Summary: 'Where there are no happy endings...' Sora is a regular boy until he gets that letter, and then his whole world turns upside-down. Full summary inside! My first story! Rating will go up later!


**Welcome to the Manor**

_**'Where there are no happy endings' **_

**By Lady-Ninetails **

**Summary: It all started with that stupid letter, and now look at him. His world has fallen apart. He may never see his friends again, they're probably dead. And all because of that stupid letter. It's true what they say. Curiosity killed the cat, even though, you know, he wasn't a cat. **

**Warnings: Lemon later, and other yaoi too! There's nothing much to worry about now though!**

**Pairings: Mainly Soriku, with side Akuroku and Zemyx! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts at all! *sad face* **

**R&R and please enjoy!**

* * *

_Watching the birds fly away, letters gracefully hanging from their beaks, one ominous silhouette smiled evilly at the other, who was just watching the sky. The open window letting in a slight breeze, the round moon and glittering stars the only source of light to be found. Unused crystal chandeliers hanging lifelessly, spiders' webs almost beautifully curving around it, candles burnt so far down, solidified wax seemingly dripping from their holders, the room oozed a dark, dangerous aura. The luxurious flooring, once a shiny wood but now covered in dust, damp from neglect, creaked as the figures leave the room, not to be visited for some time. "You think they will come?" Asked the smaller shadow, warily. "Definitely." The other spoke, laughter echoing everywhere. Chilled winds howled in the night, swirling in the sky, leaves on the forest's floor moving around in the gusts. Truly, it was a night of great coldness, in atmosphere and temperature. No life in the forest could be seen or heard._

* * *

It all started with that stupid letter. It came to him, addressed to him, beckoning him, literally, just begging for attention.

Everything about it just screamed 'come over here, you know you want to.' And in reality, even though the letter was so simple, so hastily made, there were qualities that drew him in. The mystery, the uncertainty. His curiosity was overwhelming as he stood outside on that warm morning; a small, welcome breeze flying past every minute or so - a massive contrast to the chilly night before. The sun was just rising but that didn't stop the light blue from filling the sky, ensuring another peaceful (as far as the weather was concerned) day. The brunette looked down at his watch, catching a glimpse at the time but not properly reading it, just acknowledging that, yes, it was a clock, instead skimming over the letter again. And again.

Quite plainly, it read:

'_You are invited to a party, _

_Held by The Lord of the manor of Destiny, _

_On the 19th of March._

_Do not disappoint The Lord._

_He hopes to see you there.' _

In fairness, it was easy enough for Sora to understand. He knew about the Manor of Destiny, deep in the scary-dark forest, an area many of the otherwise happy islanders avoided. So, clearly, it came as quite a shock when there was, indeed, someone living there. Supposedly. And, there was another thing, he didn't know how to get there, exactly.

Who did? That was when Sora thought; 'what the hell IS this letter? Some kind of joke? Where did it come from? No return address...'

Looking at the fancy paper, inspecting it thoroughly, he noticed that the words were written in gold, and in scrawled handwriting you would expect from someone of a high calibre. Like, say, a 'lord'. But that was insane.

"Sora!" His mother shouted, brown hair flowing in the wind as she looked out from her doorway to find her son just standing at the bottom of the drive, almost late. "Why haven't you set off for school?" She asked, almost shouting because of the seagulls' calls filling the air.

"Sorry, mom, I was... Daydreaming!" He replied, smiling so much his blue eyes scrunched up, radiating cheerfulness.

"I'll be off, now!" He waved, and she waved back, watching as he set off down the road. When he was no longer in sight, she just went back to her house chores. It was a pleasant, easy life for everyone that lived on the Islands.

'And strange occurrences,' Sora decided in his mind, 'like this letter, never go un-noted! But, maybe this time, things will pass? If nothing more came of this letter, nothing more came of it. Simple, really, and what any normal thinker would think.' But, Sora was Sora. And Sora never really was a 'normal thinker.'

Said teenager placed the letter in his pocket. Surely, someone had been pranking him. 'As if I even THOUGHT about it.' He idly wondered, the gates of Destiny Island High now in view, despite how brightly the sun shone today. 'Yeah, just go into those woods and get lost. Whoever wrote this would have a right old laugh. Silly me, I guess!' He thought again, a sigh passing rosy lips.

Reaching the end of his small walk to school and sauntering past the car-park allowed for the end-years only, like Axel, he strolled into the building to hear the bell ring.

"Great!" He said out loud, something that was barely audible compared to the racket the other students made, now crashing into each other with reckless abandon to get to their classes.

'Now I won't see Roxas until second period. Or Demyx until break. Or Axel until lunch!' He thought, mentally slapping himself for being so foolish, so curious, that he skipped the entirety of a before-school catch up. He made his way through the corridors, and up the flights of stairs to the highest floor where, unfortunately, his first class was today.

Sitting down in history, next to Naminè and her twin sister Kairi, he watched the other pupils flow into the room with boredom, pushing out thoughts of the thing that wasn't to be mentioned.

Kairi and Naminè were good friends of Sora's, he always enjoyed their company. They were regular, chatty, gossipy girls who loved to hear everything about everyone. They were pretty, and liked makeup and ponies and hair and rainbows like most other stereotypical girly-girls. Really, though, they were nice people and Sora was glad he had them. They were close and talked as much as they could. Truly, some of the things that they talked about were interesting. He was generally smiley and happy around them, though there were barely any people in the world Sora wasn't happy to! They were nice gossipers, and wouldn't hurt someone with harmful rumours, even though they did like them. The teacher, for seemingly the first time all lesson, piped up and announced loudly; "Class, I'm leaving for some photocopying. I expect you to all be quiet. I'll be returning soon." And with that, he left.

When the door shut, a loud murmur started up, soon turning into talking, and then shouting. As if out of nowhere, the smaller of the twins started to talk, both her twin and Sora looking to her in interest.

"Oh my god!" Naminè said. "Sora, I can't believe we haven't already told you! It's really something!" She went on, earning an encouraging smile from him. "So, today, we BOTH got these letters-" Kairi started nodding, clearly recognising what the talk was about. At the sound of 'letters', Sora's ears pricked up. Kairi said "I completely forgot!" to be interrupted by her sister - "telling us to go to the Destiny Manor on March 19th!" She squealed. "Isn't it just soo~ funny that someone would do that! I mean all that trouble!" Kairi added. "I bet it's a guy! I bet he likes us!" She clapped her hands, mainly to herself.

Sora's eyes opened wide, reaching for his pocket, "That's so- so strange!" he said, pulling out the letter and showing it to the girls, waving it madly in their faces. This really was quite a shock, Sora didn't expect this... That someone would give them letters too? "That's just odd!"

What kind of trick was that?

Their eyes went equally wide. And Naminè's mouth opened too, pupils going wider as they read.

"Woah... That's freaky!" said Kairi, her sister nodding all the time to match her earlier actions as they examined everything, the matching words, colours, not anything out of place. Sora wondered, in the heat of excitement, if they thought anything of it, if they had a sick feeling, or if they thought it was a joke. As if to put him out of his misery, Kairi shook her head and looked to him.

"Wonder who did this..." Her sister jumped in, finished reading. "I don't know... And I don't want to. It's too weird. It's not even funny." "Not a guy, then. Wait, Sora, are you-" Kairi started, and then the teacher re-entered the room, and people immediately stopped talking. It was probably subconsciously decided, by the twins, as they tended to do, that it really was just a very strange yet uninteresting joke. No more, much to Sora's displeasure, was said on the matter, and they got on with work as normal. Quite clearly, it was settled and nothing more would come of this 'joke'. However, Sora couldn't shake the feeling, deep down that... Well, something was just OFF. But he had to put that aside. When the teacher left again, "28 sheets, not 30...", the twins didn't seem worried, even continuing to gossip. They weren't deterred or interested at all. And Sora would have to put up with that.

At thus ended the first lesson of Sora's six-lesson day. And, as he thought about before, Roxas would be there. He was in the same set as Roxas, but just for math. It was kind of a pity, but he wasn't thinking about that - just the convenience.

'I could tell him about the letter. Mr. Wise never payed much attention anyway, so I can talk freely, and what if Roxas was interested? That would be great, I need to talk! Or, do something!' He thought, arriving in the room, the boy in question already there.

"So, guess what?" He asked the blonde, barely even saying hello, barely even sitting down. Eagerness had taken over Sora, as it did quite a bit.

"What?" Roxas said cheerfully. 'Right, okay, this is it!'

Sora took a deep breath. "I got this letter, in the post, and it'a telling me to go to Destiny Manor! And, and... and Naminè and Kairi have the same letters too, and-"

His deep breath was in vain, as the honey-blonde teen cut him off mid sentence.

"Wait, wait! Letters? About Destiny Manor? You guys have them? Well - look..."

He said, going under the desk and coming out again, holding a folded up piece of paper. "I've got one, too!"

Sora took the letter, almost snatching, and read it. It was exactly the same as the twin's. As his. This was getting ridiculous. The golden colour and amazing elegance, the strange presence and dread surrounding it, it was all the same. Slowly Sora was going mad about these, there had to be a culprit.

"Okay, this is... Strange." Roxas decided, matching Sora's bewildered look, and breaking the silence. "You think it's a trick?" Sora eventually asked after quite a lot of searching the letter, sort of hoping his friend would have the same idea as him. The same feeling that something was going to happen.

"Definitely!" Roxas concluded after not much time. 'Clearly not, then. Maybe' Sora wondered, 'I'm being a little paranoid, just because things like this never happened.' But he was willing to fight his corner.

"But, Roxas, what if its true, though?" He started, "what if there is someone living there, and..."

"And he's just decided to invite some teenagers to a party?"

"Well, not when you put it like that..."

"That's the ONLY way to put it."

Sora sighed. Damn Roxas. He wouldn't be winning this... Debate.

"There is nobody. It is a prank." Roxas declared, as if speaking to a simpleton. "Agreed?"

Sora sighed. He huffed a bit, and pouted at the blonde.

No budge was seen from him.

"Agreed." He moaned.

The bell rang. Which meant Break time.

At this point, Sora, in his quest to find someone who was slightly weirded out by this, enough so that they wanted to investigate, was reaching boiling point.

They walked down to the cafeteria to meet their friend Demyx, who was a year older than them with an amazing gift at music, and sat down at a table in the back. Sora, this time, he was going to be a little smoother. Maybe to Roxas, he jumped in without thinking it through.

"No Axel today?" Roxas questioned, missing the oldest of the group of friends. "No - remember, today's when he needed to write up that apology letter to up in science for setting fire to her hair. And since he never misses lunch, he's doing it now." Sora explained, earning an 'oh!' from Demyx and a 'ah' from Roxas. They went silent, and this would probably be a good time to show the letter to Demyx.

"Demyx, guess what?" Sora suddenly burst out with. "Sora, this again?" Roxas said rolling his eyes, but neither friend payed much notice. Nodding him on, Sora continued.. "I got this weird letter! About that manor deep in the woods, telling me to go there. Kairi, Roxas and Naminè have them too! Freaky, hah?!"

Demyx looked at him in shock. "All of you, too?!" He exclaimed, almost flying out of his seat. "What the hell?!" He then shouted, flying towards his coat on the seat next to him, rummaging around in all of the pockets, and finally returning to show a golden letter, creased and badly folded. "That would be five letters, altogether, then!"

He said, earning an intrigued and surprised look from Sora and a shocked one from Roxas. Sora was certain something was wrong now, because five letters...

"Roxas," Sora spoke, quite slowly, "you have to admit..."

"Yeah. It's weird." Roxas slumped down into his seat, thinking.

Demyx sat down as well, rubbing his head, he looked quite perplexed. Sora also went silent, a mixture of frustration and that... Dread again washing over him.

"That's one crafty pranker!" Demyx announced.

Roxas looked at Demyx and said "yeah, they've gone far, but-" he looked at the letters carefully, three in a row, exactly the same except from the occasional ruffle in the paper from handling. "We're not stupid." He looked at his friends, and they looked back, Sora especially, this was getting to be a nightmare. "We're not falling for this."

At that, a familiar chime echoed over them all and it was time for third period. Sora didn't have either third or fourth with anyone he really liked, just sort of mutual ones that he rarely saw out of that class.

So, he set off, after a breif wave to his friends, and got on with his education. He tried to focus, anything that would get his mind away from those stupid party invites. But they wouldn't stop plaguing his mind.

He tried everything. Staring at things, doodling, talking, chewing gum, about everything you can do. It was hopeless for him, and he was getting very cross with himself. After seemingly MORE than two lessons, dinner time started. And he was very thankful, as now he could either talk to people, or let them distract him.

He rushed down to the canteen, slightly worked up and on edge.

After a little searching, he reached a table close to the doors and sat down, taking the last seat.

"Hey, Sora!" Said the spiky red-head next to him, and so did Marluxia and Larxene, friends of his, in his year.

"There weren't any other seats." Axel explained, gesturing to the platinum blonde and pink-haired people as Sora sat down, finding food uninteresting at the minute.

"No, no - it's fine! I really don't mind. Hi, guys!" Sora waved a little.

"Cool then, hi!" Larxene exclaimed, sipping a milkshake, and they chatted casually for a bit, Sora loosening slightly but never loosing a terrible feeling deep in the back of his mind, too deep to dig up but too prominent to bury.

"Hi!" Demyx screamed from a little far away, and stole a chair from someone's table, pulling it up and greeting everyone with a huge smile. "S'up, Dem." Axel waved, and Demyx did back. Sora said hello too, and then returned to chatting with Marluxia.

Then, the sandy-blonde looked around, as if he had lost something, and evidently, he had.

"Roxas was with me a little while ago, we met on the corridor... Where did he even go...?" People looked around, not leaving their seats though.

Roxas arrived moments later, huffing and puffing things like 'I told you to wait...'

and much to Roxas's dismay, a chair could not be found anywhere.

After much complaining and waiting for a seat, Roxas ended up on Axel's knee, much to the latter's pleasure. Sora laughed at the sight, especially when Larxene commented that they looked good together and ended up with a plastic spork in her hair.

Once all five were settled, there was a bit of quietness, Sora's mind went back to the letters, and an urge to say something overpowered everything else.

He just... Started.

"So Axel, have you heard about those letters? The ones about Destiny Manor?" His eyes darted everywhere, hoping that he hadn't just sounded insane.

Axel looked puzzled, from around Roxas's shoulder, who was rolling his eyes, and grabbed something from his pocket. "You mean this? What about it?"

At the sight of yet another golden letter, Demyx, Roxas and Sora looked completely traumatised. Sora, especially, almost fell backwards and screamed.

"This is getting so strange! Axel, that's six people with letters like that!" Sora explained, the other two reaching for their own as evidence.

Axel's brows furrowed at the sight, in almost deep thought about such strange things.

"Wow... That's..."

"Amazing!" Marluxia suddenly burst in, pink hair falling around his shoulders at the sudden movement forward, almost spilling food everywhere.

There was an awkward silence that filled the table, Marluxia simply staring at different people in hope that someone would get it.

He decided he would start again.

"What an amazing predicament!" He began, "I mean, when's the last time you heard about something like this! Either this is one persistent spammer or it's true!" He almost started clapping, and Sora smiled.

"Hold up, Marly." Larxene said, looking skeptical, "you're saying it could be true? Please." She waved a hand, and Sora's smile went a little, especially when Roxas shouted "exactly! It's just a joke! Oh, Sora, don't pull that face! It's okay you know, stop being over dramatic!"

Sora was, indeed, making a face of creativity and inspiration, as if finally something had gone right.

He stood up quickly, banging his hands on the table in triumph.

"We have to go!" He suddenly said, excitement building up, "we have to check it out! Can you even imagine how cool it would be if it was true?!"

Marluxia smiled broadly, in contrast to everyone else who looked like Sora was a taking, ten-feet-tall jellyfish, "yes! Oh, how fun! I don't even have a letter and I'm fascinated!"

"No, no... And no." Roxas said, butting in again.

"Well, it would be kind of-" Axel said, at the same time as Demyx; "it sounds like a good-" but were both cut off by Larxene, who loudly said "no way!"

"Larxene, you don't even have to come!" Axel complained, now very convinced, being a fickle person.

"Killjoy!" Sora pointed.

"Buzzkill!" Demyx cried.

"Stick in the mud!" Marluxia jeered.

"We're actually going to end up doing this, aren't we?" Roxas looked around, completely deflated.

Out of nowhere, a flash of dark pink and light yellow appeared from behind Sora.

"Going to do what?" The first figure said.

"Yeah, what?!" The second added.

Carrying trays of cake and fizzy drinks, pink and white dresses covered in paint (evidently, they just had art), the twins popped up, looking completely imminent on finding out.

"Well, you know those letters,-" Sora began to explain, happy people were beginning to enjoy the thought of exploring the woods.

"Oh, brother." Roxas banged his face on the table, sliding away from Axel who was now eagerly telling the twins they could take his car tomorrow since it was Saturday and that it would be really fun.

Demyx was nodding like a child, and Marluxia chipping in with 'exactly' or 'indeed' every now and again. Larxene was sulking, but obviously sliding towards spending a weekend with her friends, and the twins smiling too.

He would be dragged along, and everyone knew it, so he simply gave in not after long.

It wasn't too long that they were drawing up plans, lists of things to take, who would bring what...

"Really, guys!" Sora bounced up and down with glee. "This is gonna be great!"

Sora got home that day with a particularly large grin, and after telling his parents that he would be spending the weekend out, went up to his room to research the manor. They needed some sort of map, and that was his job.

'Marluxia and Larxene are doing main meals.' He thought, planning it out in his mind, 'Kairi and Naminè are on snack duty, Axel is driving, Demyx is bringing cutlery and plates, and Roxas will be taking pillows and blankets!'

He could have danced, if he wasn't tired after a day of work, and disappointment, and sudden eagerness!

Lying down, plans drawn up completely (he hadn't found a full map, but an old area-guid that might serve some help), he could barely close his eyes.

'Wonder what'll happen...' He wondered, worn out. 'It's gonna be fun whatever we find...' He yawned, and his eyes shut slowly, drifting into peaceful sleep.

* * *

_The figures were in the room again, moon high above, again, glimmering down. The taller, menacing shadow held another dove in his hands, a bigger letter in it's beak. _

_"Sora, again." It spoke, grinning, and the bird flew off, into the darkness. _

_"R-really. We don't have to, you know. They're all inno-" "Not a word out of you." It said to the smaller. "The plans are finalised. This is a game too fun to pass out on. The pawns are eager. Lets begin." _

* * *

Sora woke up that day with a happy smile still plastered to his face, his alarm ringing wildly. It was early in the morning, the had to get back by Monday.

He scrambled out of bed, almost falling, the sheets thrown around everywhere, and turned off the buzz-buzzing of the clock. Rushing into his signature 3/4 shorts, sneakers, hoodie and navy-blue under-shirt, he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, wash his face and most importantly gel his hair. It would be coming with him on the trip.

Duffel bag badly packed from the evening before, he then made his way down the stairs to eat some cereal. Hearing the honk of Axel's car, he punched the air in joy!

"Mom! Dad! Axel's here now! I'm all packed, and I'll see you tomorrow or Monday!" He shouted up the stairs in a hurried but friendly way.

"Oh, okay sweetie!" She called from her bed, never being a morning person.

Literally throwing the bowl and spoon into the sink, Sora ran outside to see Axel and Roxas in the front.

"'Bout time!" Axel called from the window of the driver's seat. "Get in!"

Opening the back he also saw Demyx, who looked, well, like Demyx, a cheerful, happy and completely oblivious Demyx.

"Hi Sora!" He exclaimed, seeing his friend. "Hey, Dem! We still need to pick up everyone?" Roxas looked behind him, "yep!"

"And does everyone have their stuff so far?"

"Car, plates, bed stuff!" Axel replied, putting the key in the ignition. "And I've got... Well, not really..." Axel stopped the car. "You've... Not got a map?" Demyx gasped, melodramatically. "How the hell do we get there without a map?" Roxas said.

"Uh, I guess we just drive forward into the forest..." Sora said, rubbing his head in embarrassment. "I've got a... Plan of the area..."

They all sighed, and Axel revved up the engine.

Just as he was about to set off, Sora noticed that there was some post in the box.

"Wait! Wait just one sec. Do we even GET post today?" He asked, all of them now looking at the box.

"S'pose so..." Roxas said nonchalantly. Sora climbed out of the car and went to the box. "If it's not for you, just leave it!" Axel shouted from the car.

Sora almost dropped dead at the sight of what he found. With no envelope, and no return address, in golden letters, was a map directly to the manor, it seemed.

Quite plainly, it read:

'_Courtesy of The Lord,_

_To help you in finding the Manor, _

_He hopes you arrive today.' _

That, along with a very detailed drawing of the entire island. It was relatively big, as maps go, and folded out several times.

His face jumped from fear to excitement to curiosity every second.

"Sora?" Roxas asked from the car. "What'cha got there?"

* * *

**Okay guys! That's it for chapter 1! And there's not even any Riku yet! Next chapter will be out as soon as I can finish it! I'm sorry there's not much here but it's kinda just the 'set up' chapter! **

**Hope you enjoyed it and a big BIG thank you to anyone who reviews!**

**See ya! **


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